Dahlia Daphne Eleanor Mozes Iking is a Malaysian television personality, an emcee and an occasional actress.

Television and other ventures[edit]

Prior to her career in television Daphne worked as a marketing executive for Skywalker TV.[3] Iking first entered the television scene as the model in a Pond's advertisement. The next year saw her co-hosting Ringgit Sense, a TV3 show on finance, alongside Nazrudin Rahman.

Iking quickly became a recognisable face as the host of reality show Explorace, a reality show similar to The Amazing Race, in 2004 for two years where she is known for her lively personality. She then went on to host PNB World Investment Challenge on TV3, Vector Challenge on 8TV, Explorace Kids on TV3 and Health and Beauty Capsule in May/Antabax. She also reported for TV3's factual programmes The Brand and Majalah Tiga.[4]

In 2006 she gained a supporting role as Daphne in 8TV's dramedy series KL Lights. She also hosted with Nazarudin Rahman again in My Australian Adventure, a sponsored travelogue show in TV3. Later that year, she moved to ntv7 and hosted The Breakfast Show. She was a supporting actress in telemovie Adik, in 2007 and played a minor role in Singaporean drama District 9 Pilot.[5][6]

In 2009, Iking was nominated in the Malaysian Shout! Awards as the host of The Breakfast Show.

Iking played a con-woman in Belukar, a Malaysian independent film released in 2010 and won the "Most Promising Actress" for this role[7]

In late 2010, Iking played as a nurse suffering from domestic abuse which is one of the characters included in the short film Prelude in F Minor.[8]

She was also the supporting actress in the local comedy film My Spy in 2010.

In October 2010 Daphne Iking was nominated for the second time for "Favourite Television Personality" as the host of The Breakfast Show during the Shout! Awards.[9]

Iking left The Breakfast Show after four years in 2011 and is currently hosting the new talk show Bella.

As well as having hosted My Australian Adventures, the Malaysian celebrity was also the scriptwriter for the show.[10] She is the assistant producer of The Breakfast Show.[11]

Daphne Iking won the beauty queen title of Unduk Ngadau of Sabah in 2003, representing Keningau.[12]

She appeared for the third time in the list of FHM Malaysia's annual Most Wanted Female 2010 at number 40.

Personal life[edit]

Iking was born in Keningau, Sabah, Malaysia to a former nurse, and local politician Mozes Iking, both Kadazan-Dusun. She is the second eldest amongst four siblings and grew up in Penampang.[1] She completed a masters in Communications in Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang in 2002.

By October 2006 she started a relationship with businessman Ryan Chong. They met while Iking was filming KL Lights.[13] She revealed that she was getting married, in a live talk show. The wedding was held in Bali, Indonesia in January 2007 and the event was published in the Malaysian edition of Hello magazine. She gave birth to daughter Isobel Daniella in November 2007.

In 2009 Chong accused a managing director, Choy Khin Ming under the Penal Code of 498 of Malaysian law for "enticing or taking away or detaining with a criminal intent a married woman".[14] Iking and Chong divorced that year.[15] From the case it was revealed that Iking's child's DNA does not match her former husband.[16] Chong had also demanded RM1 million from his former wife as compensation for conceiving a child whom he did not father, although the court case was ultimately dropped.[17]

In 2011 Iking converted to Islam and adopted the name 'Dahlia'. She married for the second time to Azmi Abdul Rahman, her manager and business partner. They married in a private ceremony in her hometown of Penampang.[18] Her husband confirmed pregnancy rumours in May[19] and Iking gave birth to daughter Iman Daniella in November 2011.[20]